Orbit of the Moon
The Moon orbits Earth in the prograde direction and completes one revolution relative to the stars in approximately 27.322 days (a sidereal month). Earth and the Moon orbit about their barycentre (common center of mass), which lies about 4600 km from Earth's center (about three quarters of the radius of Earth). On average, the Moon is at a distance of about 385000 km from Earth's center, which corresponds to about 60 Earth radii. With a mean orbital velocity of 1.022 km/s, the Moon moves relative to the stars each hour by an amount roughly equal to its angular diameter, or by about 0.5°. The Moon differs from most satellites of other planets in that its orbit is close to the plane of the ecliptic, and not to Earth's equatorial plane. The plane of the lunar orbit is inclined to the ecliptic by about 5.1°, whereas the Moon's spin axis is inclined by only 1.5°.
Properties
The properties of the orbit described in this section are approximations. The Moon's orbit around Earth has many irregularities (perturbations), whose study (lunar theory) has a long history.
Podcasts:
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by Glen Hansard
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by Joshua Payne
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by White Buffalo
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by Italobrothers
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by Dawn
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by Dark Moor
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by Cat Power
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by Microphones
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by Praga Khan
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by Terminal Wardrobe
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by Flobots
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by Patricia Barber
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by Axxis
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by Comadre
The Moon
by: Glen HansardCut the bonds with the moon
And let the dogs gather
Burn the gauze in the spoon
And suck the poison up
And bleed
Shut the door to the moon
And let the birds gather
Play no more with the fool
And let the souls wander
And bleed
From the soul
A slow hurt.. and it breaks us..
And so down,
Down, down and so plain
So down
When you play some more it seems so
And my friends are past this game
Of breakdowns
And our friends that are lost at sea..
Throw down
And I'll break the wasted space
Slow down, slow down,
If you don't slow down, slow down
If you don't slow down, slow..
Cut the bonds with the moon
And watch the dogs gather